Kristen Hare

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Act one, scene one: The young woman, 18, with dark hair pulled into a loose ponytail, leaves her high school and heads for the theater. Soon, she finds herself sitting in the dark, fifth row from the stage, off to the side.

The lights go down. The opera begins. Clayton High School senior Sumi Garg waits to take the stage during the Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ rehearsal of “The Tales of Hoffmann.”

It’s a small part, her first in opera. It’s her first time even seeing an opera.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: In the midst of an economic downturn, when unemployment rates hover at 5 percent nationally, it is taking some college students in St. Louis longer to find jobs than usual.

For a few moments during finals week, Cadence Rippeto felt relieved. She finished the last exam of her senior year and stepped into a drizzly day. Then, her relief evaporated.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: The babies showed up on craigslist at 1:26 p.m., May 6. " ...from glowing cheeks to the tips of ten tiny toes. Arms and legs have soft baby creases and folds. He has sparkling brown eyes and brown hair and the cutest little smile.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Harriet Hosmer wasn't born in St. Louis. She didn't grow up here or, in fact, live here for very long.

But the woman who would go on to carve her own way as a neo-classical sculptor in a man's world was changed by her time in St. Louis. And she left her mark, including some of her work, in several significant places.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Bloum Cardenas grew up seeing her grandmother creating. And when Niki de Saint Phalle began a round, bright female piece called "Clarice Again," Cardenas watched it in the yard and painted and colored a smaller version of her own.

"She didn't want me to be painting on her work," said Cardenas, a board member of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation and herself an artist living in San Francisco working mostly with plastic bags. "But she gave me one to color so that I could participate."

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Past stretches of green grass at the Missouri Botanical Garden, around open tulips and emerging tree buds sits a giant skull. Flashes of greens and yellows, oranges and reds pop out from glaring eye sockets. Nearly every inch sparkles under the Sunday sun.

And there are voices.

Three of them. Through the ear-like archway, Kavi Wilson listens as his words bounce from shiny spot to shiny spot, back into daylight through the space between bared teeth. Kavi, 5, stares up into a ceiling of blue glass circles and a white half moon.